FM briefing diplomats; focus on Rohingya issue

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen is briefing diplomats stationed in Dhaka on current issues with special focus on the Rohingya crisis.

The briefing started shortly after 10am on Wednesday at State Guest House Padma, reports UNB.

Bangladesh is now hosting over 1.2 million Rohingyas. Most of them came here after the Myanmar military launched a brutal offensive in the pretext of a 'clearance operation' on August 25, 2017.

Refugees and rights groups have accused the military and its local collaborators of crimes, including murder, rape, torture, loot, arson. Myanmar denies the charges.

UN's top human rights official described Myanmar's crackdown and treatment of Rohingyas as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing".

Although Dhaka and Nay Pyi Taw have signed an agreement for their repatriation, there has apparently been no progress.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has blamed Myanmar's reluctance to take back its people as a major barrier to the repatriation. "The problem lies with Myanmar. It (Myanmar) in no way wants to take them back. There's the problem," she told the media on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation called upon the ad hoc ministerial committee, led by Gambia, to take immediate measures to launch the case of Myanmar's human rights violations against Rohingyas at the International Court of Justice on behalf of the OIC.

It affirmed its support for the ad hoc ministerial committee on human rights violations against Rohingyas in Myanmar, using all international legal instruments to hold the perpetrators accountable.